Corset-fastening



(No Model.)

S. S. WILLIAMSON.

CORSET FASTENING. No; 410,131. Patented Aug. 27 1889.

N. PETERS. Photo-Ulhegnphor. Wuhlnghmb.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL s. WILLIAMSON, or jBRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

CORSET-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Itatent No. 410,131, dated August 2'7, 1889.

hpplication filed April 27, 1889. Serial No. 308,867. on model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL SWVILLIAM- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain.

new and useful Improvements in Clasps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use-the same.

My invention relates to clasps such as are used for securing the meeting ends or edges of belts or gloves, and particularly the front steels of corsets; andthe object of my invention is. to provide a clasp which may be used, if desired, in all respects after the manner of the ordinary well-known stud and button-hole clasp, but which shall have, besides the functions of said ordinary clasp, an additional method of operation, whereby the parts may be very easily'released and their disengagement effected.

The clasp herein described is to be distinguished from certain. other clasps heretofore patented, a representative specimen of which is to be found in the patent of. Frederick 13. Spooner, No. 397,034, January 29, 1889, and the reissue of said patent, No. 10,995, April 16, 1889, inasmuch as the locking operation of such clasps is necessarily effected by the introduction of the stud inward from the outer edge of the slotted plate, while in this invention the engagement of the members is effected by overlapping them and introducing the stud into its proper opening from beneath the latter, in all respects like the clasp now most commonly employed.

With the ends heretofore specified in view my invention consists in the construction and combination of co-operating elements hereinafter fully described, and then recited in the claims. I

In order that such as are skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may fully understand its construction-and operation, I will describe the same in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formserted within the enlargement of the slot prior to being drawn outward into engagement with the hook. Fig. 2 isa similar View showing the parts in their relative position after the stud has been drawn into engagement with the hook; Fig. 3, a view showing theposition of the parts upon therelease of the stud; Fig. 4, a detail of the "twoparts which compose the clasp, and Figs. 5 and 6 elevations of a modified form of clasp. 1

Like reference numerals and letters denote the same parts in all figures. A

Upon the steelAis placed a series of headed studs 1 or equivalent male elements. Upon the steel B is a series of slotted plates 2, each n l corresponding in position to one of the headed studs. The slots are irregular in shape, having at the rear end an enlarged portion 3, of

sufficient size to readily admit the stud-head,

and a contracted portion 4,1eading outward:

to the end of the plate and of sufficient size to admit the entrance of the stud-shank, but not sufficiently large to permit of the passage of the stud-head downwardly therethrough.

the length of the hook, an enlarged opening 8 at its rear end substantiallyregistering with the opening in the plate when the parts are in assembled position, and an upwardly-projecting finger 9, whose inner edge is curved or inclined relative to the length of the hook, and which terminates in a horizontal plane slightly higher than the end of the beak. Two rivets 10 11 serve to secure the plate to the steel, one of which 10 passes through the steel, the plate, and the hook, and forms the pivotal point of thelatter, and the other of which 11 passes through the steel and plate only, its

upper headed end projecting into an enlarged them as a pivotal point, when said hook is in concaved, so as to give it a hold on the stud when the latter is pulled inthe direction of.

its engaged position, the strain is distributed between both of said rivets.

In the locking operation of the parts of the elasps the. stud is inserted through the enlarged openings near the rear ends of the plate and hook. Then, if the hook is in the position relative to the plate which is shown at Fig. 2, the stud may slip freely outward through the contracted portion ofthe plateopening until it rests against the slightly-concaved edge of the hook. If,'on the other hand, the hook is in its raised position, as shown at Fig. 1, then in its forward movement it engages the finger, which projects partially or wholly across the contracted portion of the opening, and by its further progress displaces said finger, and thereby turns the hook downward into the position shown at Fig. 2. The stud may be readily disengaged from the plate by the common method of slipping said stud backward until it registers with and can be drawn outward through the enlarged portion of the opening; but, on the other hand, the said stud may be most simply and easily released by raising the hook by means of its handle about its pivotal point, when the stud will slip outward through the end of the plate.

As a clasp forming a positive lock upon the stud is sometimes preferred, I have in Figs. 5 and 6 shown a modified form of hook, in which the beak is made with its inner edge of more sharply inclined or curved form near the base thereof than is shown at the other figures. This causes the stud to raise the hook slightly when it comes strongly against its inner edge, and thereby the extremity of the finger is so raised as to debar the stud from a backward movement into the enlarged portion of the opening. (See Fig. 5.) This modified clasp is locked in precisely the way heretofore set forth; but the unlocking is accomplished most readily by raising the hook and permitting the stud to slip outwardly through the forward end of the plate.

I claim 1. In a clasp, the combination, with a stationary stud or post forming one element thereof, of the complementary element consisting of a plate having a slot extending inward from the front end thereof and enlarged at its rear end, a hook having a corresponding opening and pivoted against the plate and movable relative thereto, and a finger projecting upwardly from said hook behind the beak and movable with said hook, substantially as set forth.

2. In a clasp, the combination,with the stationary headed stud and the slotted plate opposite said stud, the rear end of the slot being adapted to admit the stud-head, of the hook having a downwardly-projecting grasping-beak whose line of movement is across the slot, near the outer end of the latter, having also an opening substantially identical with that in the plate and registering therewith, and having also the curved upwardly-proj ecting finger whose line of movement is across the line of the plate-opening, said finger adapt ed to be actuated by the forward movement of the stud, substantially as specified.

3. In a clasp, the combination, with the stud and the steel on which it is mounted, of the complementary steel, the plate slotted from its front end, the pivoted hook, a rivet whereby said hook is pivoted to the plate and the plate secured to the steel, a second rivet above and in line with the firstnamed rivet passed through the plate and steel, and an opening in the hook, into which the last-named rivet projects, said opening being formed in the arc of a circle struck from the lower rivet, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL S. \VILLIAMSON.

Witnesses:

S. H. H BBARD,- M. O. HINCHCLIFFE. 

